The Moscow prosecutor's office demanded that a criminal case be opened against Ilya Varlamov for evading the duties of a “foreign agent”

The Moscow prosecutor's office asked the investigative authorities to initiate a criminal case against blogger Ilya Varlamov under the article on evading the duties of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). This is stated in a statement from the department on September 27.

The prosecutor's office reported that they discovered that Varlamov was brought to administrative responsibility twice during the year under the article on violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). At the same time, the prosecutor’s office said, Varlamov, “in violation of the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation,” continued to publish messages on social networks without a label stating that he had been declared a “foreign agent.”

At the time of publication of this note, Ilya Varlamov did not comment on the prosecutor’s demand.

Varlamov does not live in Russia; he left the country after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in 2022.

• The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation declared Ilya Varlamov a “foreign agent” on March 23, 2023, motivating its decision by the fact that the blogger allegedly disseminated “inaccurate information about the decisions made by public authorities and the policies they pursue,” and also “received support from foreign sources.”
• At the beginning of September 2024, within two days of each other, it became known that criminal cases for failure to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent” were opened against Monetochka and Morgenstern , also after prosecutorial checks.